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November 08, 2011

Gangotri is the mythical fountainhead of the Ganga and the Gangetic civilisation around which the social, reliegios and cultural life of India has evolved. We visited Gangotri on Dipannita ( also known as Deepawali ) on 26th October and took a dip in the icy waters of the Bhagirathi, as the Ganga is known at its source. Here are the pictures.

We set our sights on the distant peaks and start from Rishikesh and follow the river upstream.

The first place of interest is Devaprayag where the Bhagirathi meets the Alakananda and is henceforth known as the Ganga. In these pictures we see the confluence of the two rivers. The one on the left is the Alakananda and the one on the right is the Bhagirathi that originates at Gangotri. While we intend to go to Gangotri, we follow the Alakananda because we have some of visiting Tunganath on the way.

We next touch Rudraprayag ( made famous by Jim Corbett and his true story of the Man Eating Leopard of Rudrapryag). This is where the white waters of the Alakananda meet the sea green waters of the Mandakini.

The Mandakini, on the left, joins up with the Alakananda on the top

After Rudraprayag we reach Uttarkashi where we see the mighty Trishul or Trident said to be planted on the ground by Devi Durga herself.

note the tip of the giant trident sticking out of the top of the Shakti temple and compare it with the size of people who are entering the temple

This is the Kedar Ghat where we dipped our toes into the icy waters of the Bhagirathi for the first time.

From Uttarkashi we finally start for Gangotri

reflections ! on the Bhagirathi

traffic jam !

The Bhagirathi among the snow peaks

Finally we reach Gangotri !

finally the dip into the icy waters

and then on the back we passed, among others, the lake created by the Tehri Dam.